What did you do in your shop today?

I finished cutting out this batch of crosses for the church. I ended up with 37 in this batch.
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I gave a cross to one of the ladies at work. When her son saw it he asked her if I could make him a cross necklace. She said he ask her everyday, lol. So I said I'd give it a try, never made a small cross for a necklace before. But if it helps the boy to follow Christianity it's definitely worth a try I think.
So here's what I came up with.
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Well it wasn't today, but earlier in the week. Nephew, wife and family were back from Wyoming for a wedding vow renewal ceremony and during the 10 days they were here was able to grab my great nephew for about 24 hours. He's always loved watching me work on the lathe, but have never had more than an hour or two to let him play.

Was able to get ~ 10 hours playing around and he made himself a cherry cup and then we cooperatively finished a roughed out black locust bowl. Dry black locust is not what a beginner should be starting with, but he loves that it fluoresces with black light, and that is what he chose out of my pile of bowls.

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And this is what you look like with a UV light after sanding black locust - even after dusting/blowing off visible dust.

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Lane with the finished projects.

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So nice to see young people take an interest in wood working of any kind.
 
Truly outstanding! This brief woodworking encounter will no doubt have change Lane’s life! Can’t wait to hear future stories about him! Chuck
 
woodtickgreg said:
I finished cutting out this batch of crosses for the church. I ended up with 37 in this batch.
View attachment 260634
I gave a cross to one of the ladies at work. When her son saw it he asked her if I could make him a cross necklace. She said he ask her everyday, lol. So I said I'd give it a try, never made a small cross for a necklace before. But if it helps the boy to follow Christianity it's definitely worth a try I think.
So here's what I came up with.
View attachment 260635
Click to expand...
Hey Greg, if you ever want to tinker with something a little different for small necklaces, try bone. Just go to the pet store and look through their stash of bleached cow chew bones. Try to find a nice heavy, thick one with the flattest side. Cut it apart and rough sand it on the belt sander so you end up with a flat blank Layout your cross design on the blank, cut it out (I use a jeweler's saw but your scroll saw should work even better). Finsih shaping with files, dremel, etc, sand it to 400 and polish on the buffer. The Pacific islanders made a lot of necklaces and fish hooks from bone.
 
Well the crosses and refrigerator magnets went over very well at church, gone in 60 seconds! :yipee:
I guess I need to get busy on the next batch.
 
John, what is the blank on the top row second from left with the pith? Walnut? Don’t usually see you doing things with that orientation.
 
What have I done the last 2 days? Sand sand sand sand. Hopefully 1 more day of sanding.
 
trc65 said:
Well it wasn't today, but earlier in the week. Nephew, wife and family were back from Wyoming for a wedding vow renewal ceremony and during the 10 days they were here was able to grab my great nephew for about 24 hours. He's always loved watching me work on the lathe, but have never had more than an hour or two to let him play.

Was able to get ~ 10 hours playing around and he made himself a cherry cup and then we cooperatively finished a roughed out black locust bowl. Dry black locust is not what a beginner should be starting with, but he loves that it fluoresces with black light, and that is what he chose out of my pile of bowls.

View attachment 260702

View attachment 260712

And this is what you look like with a UV light after sanding black locust - even after dusting/blowing off visible dust.

View attachment 260706

Lane with the finished projects.

View attachment 260708
Click to expand...
Cool Tim. Picture needs a frame. Cheers.
 
Short day at work today so I came home and went down to the shop.
Finished sanding the 37 crosses.
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Got a coat of blo on them.
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The box elder really popped with the blo.
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And i finished the cross necklace for my coworkers 9 year old son. Installed a stainless steel eyelet and a waxed cotton necklace cord with a clasp.
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JD1137 said:
Was it fun Tom? For some reason I can’t get excited about turning resin, but maybe it’s “just me”. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have seen some beautiful turnings with the resin, for sure!👍
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I’m with you, John, on the can’t get excited about it. I did not like it when doing pens and this is, well, you can see.

I convinced myself to try it after seeing some of the really great end results on my YouTube wandering. And when a sale showed up for some epoxy, I took the leap. I’m learning a lot about what not to do. For example, I needed to mix a bit more epoxy to fill my crappy mold (note to self, the size and shape of the mold is important if you don’t want to waste epoxy). I must not have mixed it enough because it never fully hardened and has stayed a bit “rubbery” so I’ve got to get below that. That’s gonna help dictate the final shape, which hasn’t revealed itself to me yet.

Cleaned up a bit for today, while I noodle what to do with it.

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Tom Smart said:
I’m with you, John, on the can’t get excited about it. I did not like it when doing pens and this is, well, you can see.

I convinced myself to try it after seeing some of the really great end results on my YouTube wandering. And when a sale showed up for some epoxy, I took the leap. I’m learning a lot about what not to do. For example, I needed to mix a bit more epoxy to fill my crappy mold (note to self, the size and shape of the mold is important if you don’t want to waste epoxy). I must not have mixed it enough because it never fully hardened and has stayed a bit “rubbery” so I’ve got to get below that. That’s gonna help dictate the final shape, which hasn’t revealed itself to me yet.

Cleaned up a bit for today, while I noodle what to do with it.

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Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback and keep us posted Tom.
I’ve not tried anything near to that so I’m not judgmental.
Keith Lackner has demonstrated for our club and he really makes some fantastic pieces with Burl and resin.
Not sure what to say about the smell and cleanup! LOL
 
No terrible smell with this epoxy, John. Cleanup, however, is what you’d expect and one of the reasons I was hesitant. The other, epoxy ain’t cheap and the learning curve gets really expensive.
 
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